The Joking Farmer
by Luchux
Summary: After Aisen leaves his old job ay Joja Corp, he wants nothing more than to go away from the city to raise his little sister in peace. Helena wants nothing more than live her life in peace after years of grief and sadness. When these two hurt dorks meet each other, very old memories will be brought out... obviously they'll talk about them like actual people, right?... yeah, no.


**AN: What's up people? I'm Luchux and welcome to my first ever Stardew Valley Fanfiction! I don't have much to say, but I'm gonna explain a few things.**  
 **1:** "this means I'm talking" _"this means a memory/thought"_ "this is a _pun/remark_ ".  
 **2: This story will have a 1st person POV. Generally it will be Aisen's(my farmer), but it can change on some moments.**  
 **3: This is a Farmer x OC story. Don't like, don't read.**  
 **4: A few parts in the beginning-middle might look like they were tacked in. That's mostly because I made quite a few edits to the storyline here and there. Tell me if it needs some more editing to make it more... cohesive.**  
 **And I think that's pretty much it. Start reading, and I'll see you at the after notes!**

 **(Aisen's POV)**  
The bus station, a place where hello and goodbye are words that are said in an incredible quantity.  
People from all over the Ferngill Republic came to greet friends and familiars with smiles in their faces and also to see them off with tears in their eyes, the promise to see each other again echoing throught the hall.  
Sadly, that isn't the case for me and my little sister.

If you look carefully on the outside of the station you'll see two persons sitting on a bench under the roof(which did little to cover them from the harsh rain outside), those two persons are a boy,I mean,teenager not older than 19 and a little girl that couldn't be over 12 years old. They looked similar enough to be siblings.

Wanna guess who they are? It's simple, the handsome one is me and the cute little girl is my sister.  
Oh, right. I didn't introduced my little family of two.

My name is Aisen Yuki and my sister's name is Anya.

But enough introductions, that isn't why your here,right?  
You guys surely want to know. You want to hear my story, how I went from an almost zombi-ed office boy to the cool guy that I'm today and how I saw her again... but that's something we'll get to later.

Well, just open your ears, grab a drink and sit down. 'Cause this is gonna take a while.

-  
 **Aisen's POV**  
0:35 A.M  
I opened my eyes and held back a yawn as I waited for the 3rd consecutive hour in that uncomfortable bench outside the bus station of Zuzu city, pulling up the hood of my hoodie to cover my face from the rain. Seriously, where is that bus?

I was snaped out of my thoughts when I felt someone shift and move on my lap. I didn't have to look down to know who it was.  
Throwing a glance towards my lap I was just in time to see my 'lil sis Anya wake up and rub her eyes in an attemp to get the sleepiness go away.

"Rise and shine, sis." I said

She merely looked to my with her inocent blue eyes while she yawned (spoiler alert, it was goshdang cute) before responding.

"H-hey big brother... is the bus here yet?" She asked while pulling her pink beanie closer to her eyebows.  
I sigh. "Sadly, no. It seems that that _bus_ ted truck is really _bus_ y to come and pick us up-" I waited for her to stop gigling before continuing, "- but it's a days worth of journey from here to the valley, so it kinda makes sence, I guess" I said while shrugging.  
Heh, puns. They are ALWAYS funny.

"At least we know what company not to pick next time, right big brother?" Said Anya.  
I chuckled.  
"Yeah, we actually learned something out of this at least". I said before I saw a particulary big drop of water fall in a puddle, I looked down redirecting my line of view to the water puddle under me.  
The reflection was kinda dificult to see because of the waves, but you could still make out our appearences.

That day I had my old trusty white with black lining hoodie, a red shirt, blue faded jeans and a new pair of black sneakers, bought with my birthday savings and some of my last salary from JoJa. Moving away from my cool clothes I saw my face in the reflection.  
You could say that I am kinda handsome, I guess. With my completely messy sandy blonde hair that was in total war with the hair comb, my small nose and ears, and my incredibly cheerful purple eyes, still retaining a small glint of mischief after quitting my hellish job.  
Anya was wearing a red jacket, with a pink long sleeved shirt underneath it, black pants, her trademark pair of blue with pink stars sneakers and a pink beanie covering her long light brown locks.

Anya jumped down my lap and came closer to the pudle, I inched away just in case. Didn't want to pull out dry clothes from my bag if I got wet.

Instead of doing just that she looked to my reflection.

"Your nose looks bigger than it normally is." She said.

All the good things that she could have said about my good looks and she mentions my nose.  
I couldn't help but snort.

"Duly _nose_ d Sis" I said.

SPLASH!

...Yeah, she jumped on the puddle.

"Oh, come on! That was a good one!" I frowned while I tried to cover myself from the water.  
"I know, I just wanted to see your expresion, hehe!" She said.  
My frown melted away in a warm smile. This little girl always knew how to get to me.

I feigned annoyance as I crosed my arms over my chest and sighed, closing my eyes at the same time.

"Is that so? Well, there's only one thing that I can do to punish that kind of actions" I said while I opened one of my eyes and smirked.  
I jumped to her while I grabbed her,ignoring her yelp of surprise, and shouted "tickle attack!".

Five minutes later a still giggling Anya was leaning into my shoulder, must be really tired I guess, since she just woke up.

"Big brother?" She said  
"What is it?" I responded  
"How much longer until the bus comes here?"

Pulling a few strands of hair out of her face, I saw within the corner of my eye a familiar silver shape. The damned bus finally got here.

I smiled. This gave me a pretty good idea  
"Hey, wanna play spy?" I asked her.

Her head snapped towards me, it's pretty obvious she loves spy, ain't that right?  
I spoke before she could start the game, couldn't let her ruin the surprise.

"I start this time, alright?" I asked her  
She shrugged before nodding frantically.  
I gave a few chuckles before continuing."Ok, I spy with my eye, something big, silver shape with two lantern like eyes and four wheels that is right behind you". I told her, barely restraining my laughter.

She froze before quickly turning around.

"*squeeeee*! It's here! Big brother,the bus is finally here!" Anya said while jumping up and down.  
"I noticed, Anya. Grab your stuff, cause our new life is just a few miles away!" I said cheerfully while bumping my fist throught the air.  
"Aye aye, captain!" She said before giving me a mock salute that left me chuckling for a few seconds.  
We walked towards the bus stopping a few steps before the door. Then I noticed, something was off with the bus.

"Is it just me, or the bus really looks like-" I said before the doors opened with an ear splitting shriek.  
"-it's going to fall apart" I finished while covering my ears, me and Anya aren't fond of this kind of sound. At least I wasn't on the floor, comically thrashing in pain like her.

I continued to resist the urge to cringe as the doors finished opening and Anya got up while rubbing her ears, trying to dry her alredy soaked clothes (serves her right for dropping at the water filled floor).

The driver, a middle aged woman with ashy blonde hair, gave us a half bored- half amused expression, as if she was thinking "welcome to hell boys, want a cookie?"

"What are you waiting for, I don't have all day. Hop in kiddos" The driver, whose name I later discoverd to be Pam, said in a raspy voice.  
I ushered Anya in, telling her to find us a good pair of seats, before I gave Pam the tickets. After she gave them the pass, I turned around to see where Anya was.  
Finding her throught the people wasn't a problem. On the contrary.  
The bus was completely empty, and it looked like it was about to fall apart inside too.  
I went to where Anya was and sat down, at least the seat wasn't broken.

"So..." I said.  
"So, what?" Anya asked.  
"Nothing. It's just that, it feels kinda weird." I answered sheepishly.  
"Really? It feels exciting to me. The city is boring, but after looking to Grandpa's photos in his farm, I just want to get there right now!" Anya said with childish cheerfulness."Your Farm is gonna be the best one of the whole world, big brother! I can bet anything on it!" She finished while rubbing her eyes, and yawning(again).  
"I think you mean 'our' farm, your responsible for this mess we got in too" I told her with a smirk.  
The bus started to move forward, interrupting Anya before she could say anything.

"But, you know. I feel like this was the right choice to do. As if this is what we are meant to do, going to Stardew Valley and start anew. No old smelly subways, no incredibly high rents, and specially NO Joja presence at all! It will be incredible! Do you agree with me, Sis?" I said all hyped up before I felt something hit my shoulder, and heard soft snoring.  
"Guess you couldn't live up to the hype, huh?" I said while laughing at my own bad joke. Kinda pathetic but, eh, beggars can't be choosers.  
"Might as well join you, talking alone will only make me seem more crazy than I really am."

I smiled at my bad joke, yet again, before letting sleep claim me, knowing that everything will be alri-

 ***Plack!**Fisssss...***

" _What in the heck was that?_ " I hazily thought before opening my eyes and see that Pam just opened a beer can.

Forget what I just said, please.  
'Cause we are both in for a bad time.  
-

15:35 P.M

Fifteen hours.  
A journey that was supposed to be of ten hours was extended by the _beautiful_ amount of another five hours, leaving any plan I had of sleeping in a proper bed before starting to work on oblivion.  
Probably wondering why, aren't you? Well, long story short, it involved: _incredibly_ long lines of cars while getting out of the city, Pam almost falling asleep while on the road, a wheel losing air in the middle of nowhere and the _looooooong_ time it took to refill the gas container of the bus.

I noticed how early in the evening it was when I looked to my phone, which had multiple notifications from apps and games that I downloaded. I still was surprised that it didn't blow off from app overdrive. I saw the hour, 15:35.  
Wait 15:35? That's the hour when my shift at my old work at JoJa ended before a 10 minute lunch. And then going to work again for another 3 hours...  
I smiled at being free of those _demons_ grasp, but...

" _I wonder if someone noticed that I'm not there anymore, pfff, probably not. But it would be a nice thought."_ I thought while looking at the green forest and mountains that Anya was gapping at. She was saying something around the lines of: "so much green!" Or "I've never seen so much of it, Big brother".

 ***Ring,Ring!***

I looked to my phone to see that an old friend finally noticed that something was off.  
I grinned widely before answering the phone "S'up, Luke?"

Luke's noisy voice came from the receiver, "You know what's 'up' Aisen! Where the heck are you? You just missed the coolest thing of the year happening in Marcus' office" He said so happily that I could practically hear him grin.

I smiled while I recalled my 'parting gift' for my old boss.

"Really? It must be really interesting if it happened to _Bor_ ecus, what is it?" I asked while feigning ignorance.

"Somebody putted two buckets full of honey and feathers up his door! He came out looking like the chicken he is." Luke said while he laughed uncontrolably."I wonder who pulled that off" He continued.

"Well I don't like to brag, but..." I said very amused.

"NO. WAY" Luke said surprised.

"Yes. Way" I said laughing.

"Aisen Yuki, you are my goddamn hero" He told me.

I made a small 'aww,shucks' gesture even thought he couldn't see it.

"Yeah, well, you better be careful from now on. If Marcus realices that it was you the one who pulled that prank on him, he'll cage you like a bird on that cubicule desk until you are a skeleton like your neighbor behind your cubicule" He warned me.  
I gave him a small chuckle as I remembered the small and cool,but ignored, joke we both pulled off a few weeks ago. But, wait, caged?

Ooooh, right. I never told him my plans, might as well do it, he deserves to know.

"Yeah, well... let's just say that you can't cage a bird that alredy flew out of your grasp". I said poetically.

"...what?"  
Did I mention that Luke is a bit of a blockhead?

"I quitted. I don't work at JoJa anymore,man." I said in a carefree manner.

"Ooooh... what!?" He exclaimed, while I got the phone away from my ear, getting a questioning look from Anya, I mouthed 'Luke' at her before going back to talk to my freaked out best friend.

"Luke, your going to kill my ears, and everyone's else in the area, calm down". I told him.

"But what are you going to do now? You know that no one is ever able to get a job in the city if you quitted JoJa, they practically control all of Zuzu!" He practically screamed.

"Hang on a sec pal. I'll show ya something interesting". I told him while I opened the phone camera to snap a photo to a zone of the valley between a few mountains, with a really blue sky behind them. **(1)**

"What'd you think?" I asked him.

"Wait, is that... " He asked me surprised.  
"Yep, Stardew Valley". I said  
"Oooh, you sneaky b-" He started before getting cutted of by me, "Dude, language! Anya's listening".  
"Your grandpa's farm! You clever snake, that's where you are going... right?" Luke said, doubting his own intelligence.  
"Uh-uh. That's what I asked your grandpa about. Anya and I are going to get that old farm started again, and I'm pretty sure it won't be really difficult." I said, confidently.  
"Cool! I'm happy for you man, not everyone gets to escape Joja with their wallet unscated and a big smile...*sigh* On the other hand I can't do the same thing." He said sadly.

I was a little sad at first, but I nearly scoffed when I remembered that his own grandpa has a farm practically next to mine. I didn't mentioned it, but it still amused me how long he was taking to tell him.  
I looked at the phone and saw the day white pixaleted letters: the first of Spring. I then remembered something that happened today, quite some time ago.  
Seven years alredy, huh?  
I looked out of the window and started to think of the past.

"Hey. Your depression aside. You think that she would like the Valley? She always liked nature so..." I trailed off.  
"Who're ya talking about?" He played dumb, knowing fully well who I was talking about.  
"We both know who I'm talking about."  
"*sigh*. Yeah, your right" he admitted.

We stayed in silence for a few seconds before Luke spoke again.

"Dude, it's been seven years since you last saw her. I thought you got over her." He said.  
"Nah. I couldn't even if I actually tried, it's kinda hard to forget about the first girl that actually cared about you." I said while taking out a pendant from my pocket.

This one was part of a set of 4. They were all circle shaped, and had a pretty cool, old looking picture inside of them **(2)** , they were: The Sun, the Moon, the Fairy, and the Dragon. The one I was staring at was the Sun.

"*Sigh* Sorry for ruining the mood, Luke. It's just... I miss her, seven years and I still miss her like the first day." I said in a sad tone.  
"I feel ya. I miss her too." He said simply.

I pocketed the pendant again and went back to my cheerful self.

"Well no point in getting depressed over it now, I'm trying to remain optimist with all of this. I want the farm on _optimal_ condition ya know" I _pun_ -ed.

"Alright, I'm gonna ignore that pun. Enjoy the valley, Pelican town is a calm place after all and I'm sure you'll enjoy it. You know, I think that one of my cousins still lives there. Been a while since I saw her, I should visit when I can. And PLEASE, try to not get angsty like this again with me, JoJa is an alredy depressing place as it is."

Wait, what?

"Since when you have a cousin? And a female one at that?" I asked him.

"Since always, I guess? Her name's Abigail. She's kinda... unique. I'm sure you'll get along pretty well. Her dad runs the general store, so you'll see her very often. Probably" Said Luke.

I smirked getting a really good idea.

"Well, while I'd like to meet your cousin-" I said in a suggestive manner, ['not funny, dude' said Luke in the background] "-I'm sorry to say that I'll be working myself to _the bone_ , and I'll be _bone_ tired after the _skele-ton_ of work I'm going to have". I said in a pun barrage.

"Aisen, don't you dare to continue-!" He started.

Yeah,no. Sorry buddy but I'm on a roll here. I looked out again and saw a green post, it read: _Stardew Valley, 0.6 mi._

"Wow, wouldja _luke_ at the time?-" He screamed pretty loudly prompting me to snort "- we are almost getting to Pelican Town, so I'll _leaf_ you alone. See ya pal!"

"Aisen you goddamn son of a-!" I finished the call before he could finish the sentence as Anya was still sitting besides me.

She looked at me with her big, deep blue eyes, which were filled with worry. I knew that she was going to question me about my behavior. Again.

"You were making that face again". She said.  
"Huh? Which one?" I'm not very savvy in which faces I make, if you hadn't noticed.  
"It isn't like your normal sad face. It's... the face you put when you take out the pendant and start thinking about her. About big sister." She said.

Knowing that she got me, I tried to change the theme of conversation, I failed epicly in doing so by the way.

"You do know that she isn't your sister, do you?" I asked her somewhat annoyed.  
"But she technically is! She is your special someone, isn't she?" She said innocently.

If I had a drink I would have spitted it.  
Instead I gracefully choked in my own spit. Smooth, Yuki. Very smooth.

"S-she- I, wha, What!? Who told you that? I-I wasn't in love with her!" I exclaimed.

Anya only motioned me to get closer, I leaned with my ear first to hear what she had to say.  
When Anya whispered the information in my ear, my face went from curiosity, to pure shock.  
"H-how much...?!" I asked her completely surprised.  
"All of it." She said bluntly.

Damn, I forgot that Anya can eavesdrop on anyone. Oh well, the cat's out of the bag now.

"Okay, I'll admit it. I was wildly and madly in Love with her, Happy?" I said.  
"Yup." She said cheekily with a smile.

Ugh, why is it that the most evil person alive is so damn cute?  
Anyway...  
I took a necklace from inside of my shirt, not the Sun this time, but the Dragon. I hooked it off from my neck and held it in front of me.  
I looked to the side and saw Anya holding another necklace in front of her, the Fairy.  
The only one that wasn't in our possesion was the Moon. Extra points for guessing who has it.  
We just sat there for a few minutes, in silence. Until Anya spoke up.

"You know? I'm still looking forward to the day all four necklaces are in the same place." She said wishfully.  
I ruffled her, now beanie-less, hair a little before responding.  
"Same here, Anya. Same here."

Sadly this touching moment wasn't made to last.  
Not a minute after that the bus halted ratter abruptly. Meaning? The bus stopped out of the blue and I hitted my face with the back of a seat. Ouch.  
I rose from the floor to see that a LOT of smoke was coming out of the engine.

"Agh, this Yoba damned thing broke again. You kids are lucky, we got to our destination before the engine broke. Get down." Said Pam in her usual rough voice.

Anya was quick to grab her bag and the case that contained her clothes before rushing out of the bus.  
I merely chuckled before grabbing my own stuff and hopping down the bus, taking a deep breath and enjoying the freshness of the air.

I alredy felt at home.

However, I didn't have much time to enjoy it before Anya came back, hiding behind my legs. I think that I forgot to mention that Anya's really shy, didn't I?

"Huh, is something the matter Anya?" I said before looking forward and seeing that somebody was coming our way.

This person was a woman (in her early fourties maybe?), who was giving me quite the motherly viber from just seeing her.  
She had her orange hair pulled up in a bun, along with vibrant green eyes and playful expression in her face.  
She was wearing a brown vest, a beige sweater, dark green pants and black boots.

The woman came closer to us before stopping to greet us.

"You must be Aisen. Am I right? And the little girl behind you is Anya, if I guess correctly. That's,uh, quite the name you have" She said kinda awkwardly.

"You do. And don't worry about the name thing, I get that a lot." I said giving her a nonchalant shrug.

She shrugged before saying anything.  
"Eh, most people here have stranger traits than a rare nickname. It's nice to meet you Aisen. My name is Robin and I'm the local carpenter. We'll probably see each other really often, so I hope we get along!" She said while extending her hand for a shake.

I smiled while I extended my gloved hand too. My smile turned into a smirk when our hands connected. This old trick never fails.  
 ***PRRRRRRFFFFFT***

I laughed when she blushed at the farting sound. After a little bit she was laughing too. Anya smiled too at my old favorite joke of the book.

I wiped out a tear of laughter out of my face. "Heh, the whoopie cushion on the hand trick. It's ALWAYS funny, am I right?" I told her.

"You got me there, I'll admit it." She said.

"Hey, you dorks are going to keep standing there, because as far as I know the jokester's farm is that way." Pam said before pointing to the path on my right

"Oh, crud. I almost forgot that mayor Lewis is there waiting for us, come on you two the farm is just a walk of a minute or two away. "Robin said while she began to walk us to oir new home.  
"Nice seeing you again Pam, tell" Robin told the alcoholic bus driver, who muttered a "yeah, same".

And we left the truck driver alone with the steaming engine.

We got away from the bus and came to a cross roads. Robin pointed to the one on my left.  
"Pelican Town is that way, it's not very far off-a five minute walk at worst. Directly in front of you is the path that leads to a neighbouring farm, it sadly had to be closed off because of the monsters until a new owner comes. And that way-she said pointing to my right- is the way to your farm. Got it?" She asked me.  
I nodded "Yeah, pretty sure I won't get _crossed_ here." I said while the two girls giggled at the joke, she likes puns. That's good to know.  
But wait, monsters?  
I asked Robin about it, and she just gave me a dismissive hand wave.

"Just a few wilderness Golems. Nothing anyone with a sturdy branch can't handle in one or two hits" she said.  
Oh, then I got worried for nothing. Good to know.

After a literal minute of silent walking, the silence only interrupted with my grunts of strain(I was the one that carried almost all the bags) we got to the farm's gates. And I was happy to see that they were in a relatively good state, I just hoped the rest of the farm was more or less like this.

Up, above the fence gates there was a sign with a decolored dark blue background, along with faded drawings of falling stars that gave a nice decoration to the old light blue that painted the letters of the farm's name.

"Well, here we are: The Fallen Star farm". Robin said while reading the sign that was up the doors.

I looked at the sign with a smile, before looking to Anya who had stars in her eyes.

"Home, sweet home, huh? Let's hope that the inside is as sweet as the phrase says. What'd you think, Anya?" I asked her.

"Is so pretty..." she said in her typical dreamy voice.

I snickered before taking our stuff back up and opening the doors.

"Welp, let's go in. Those crops won't plant themselves, and if my gut feeling is correct, then this should be eas- _iiiiiiiih!_ " I screamed after seeing the state of the planting grounds.

Weeds. Overgrown grass. Rocks. Old tree trunks. _Everywhere!_

I just kept a shocked expression while I sank to my knees.

"Wha-how-when-why!" I asked Robin very frantically.  
This looked nothing like the contract said. Or the photos in this case.  
"Yeah, looks pretty bad, I know. But there's some good soil underneath all those weeds, I swear!" She said in response to my freaked out state.

I was still freaking on how untended was the farm, while I saw from the corner of my eye how Anya was poking the overgrown grass with a stick she found on the ground.  
I calmed down before noticing that there was someone else with us.

You could describe him as a simpathetic grandpa. Just by looking at him you could picture him making cookies for his grandkids.  
He had a brown beret covering his gray hair, a green button up shirt, a pair of suspenders, brown pants and shoes, and a EPIC moustache that still retained it's epicness.  
If my memory served my right (and it did) this was Lewis, Pelican Town's Mayor.

"Ah! The new farmer, or should I say farmers?" He chuckled brightly.  
"Nah, I think that only one farmer is enough for now. The land might have a heart attack if so many horrible farmers start working on it." I said, chuckling back.

Lewis extended a hand towards me.

"As you'll alredy know my name is Lewis, I'm Pelican town's mayor since 20 years ago."  
I shook his hand, he had quite firm grip for someone who was well over 50.  
"I know, my name is Aisen. Nice meeting ya, mister mayor!" I said while grinning with mischief.  
"Hmmm, you are alredy reminding me of your grandpa." He said proudly before looking to Anya and kneeling down to her level.  
"And if I'm not mistaken this young lady is your sister, isn't she?"  
"Yep, c'mon Anya, say hi to mister Lewis." I told her.  
"...H-hello,mister" she said while blushing  
"Oh,no need to go all 'mister' with me. Just call me Lewis. But you know? There is something rather interesting, right behind your ear." He said while pulling a coin from behind Anya's ear.

How does that trick even work? I tried for years and never got the hang of it.  
Meanwhile, Anya wasn't thinking of that. She was too busy looking at Lewis with stars in her eyes.

"Magic... h-how did you do it,MisImean Lewis?" She asked.  
"Hehe. A true magician never reveals his secrets, my dear." he said cheekily while getting up.

He looked at the place that would be mine and Anya's house from now on.

It was.. an alright place, I guess. It was a rather simple cottage made of wood with a few windows and a red colored roof. It looked like someone had just repaired it quite a bit.

"So you two are staying in you grandfather's cottage, yes? It's a good place. A bit 'rustic' if I say so myself" he said.

Robin snorted and gave us a playful smirk.  
"I don't know Lewis. Before I came along to fix this place it was more crusty than rustic.*sigh* this was the only thing we could savage from the previous building after all" she said with a tired sigh.  
"Savage? What happened to this place?" I asked concerned.

Lewis and Robin shared a sad glance before Lewis turned to me.

"After your grandfather left, the valley started to... mourn him. As a result it took every single bit of space your grandfather used back. Including..." he said.  
"...the house" Finished Robin.

Huh, thought the place was bigger in the photos.  
I was lost in my own thoughts when I felt someone tug at my sleeve. I looked down to see Anya holding grandpa's letter.

"Here, have a look..." she said while holding out the envelope.

I took out the photos and started shuffling throught them until I found one of the house. I held out the photo in front of me and compared it to the actual house.

The difference was enormous. The house in the photo was at least thrice as big as the house in front of me and had a second floor, as well as a trap door to get somewhere under the house on a side.  
It was a little disheartening to say the least.

As if waiting for the question, Robin answered my thoughts.

"Yeah, I know. This place was in a really bad shape when I came to check it out. The basement gave out sometime ago, and it took a big deal of the first and second floors with it. Even then, a big part of the first was beyond repair. The kitchen, the infirmary and the guest room were very much ruined. This and the bathroom was everything we managed to save." She finished before looking at me hopefully.  
"But, hey. The foundations are still there, so if you provide me with the materials, I'll have this place back in shape, in no time!" She ended cheerfully.  
There was hope for this run-down place after all, huh?

I looked all around me before speaking again.

"So, this was Grandpa's pride and joy. A bit run down, but give me time and I'll have this place running again in a flash!" I said proudly.

"I know you will. In fact, everyone else in town believes this as well. You've been the talk of the town for weeks." Lewis said.

I think that my jaw might have touched the floor with that.

"Seriously? Man, kinda hard to believe that I'm the center of attention." I said sheepishly.  
"It's not, actually. Pelican Town is a small place. You're basically bound to know everyone. It's not everyday that someone moves in here" Said Robin.

Huh, that small? Well, at least Anya will make friends pretty fast at scho... OH CRAP!  
I almost hitted myself as I remembered that Anya needs to go to school, how could I forget?

I asked Lewis and Robin about it. But before they could respond, Anya protested.

"What!? But big Brother, do I have to?" She whined  
"Well,duh. You are 12, Anya, you seriously thought I was irresponsible enough to forget about it?" I asked.

Anya was about to answer, when I cut her off.

"Don't answer".

Lewis and Robin looked very amused at our small bickering.  
"To answer you question, yes, while there isn't a school proper, a young lady named Penny takes care of educating the children from Town in the library. She has two students, of Anya's age, if I'm not mistaken." Lewis said before looking to an old looking pocket watch. "Oh! Look at the time, Robin and I have to take our leave before it gets late. It was nice meeting you, Aisen, and the same goes to you little miss. I hope that you enjoy your new life here at the valley"  
"Same here! I'll see you around guys, see ya!" Said Robin cheerfully before leaving with Lewis.

I was just ready to enter when I remembered something.

"Hey, Lewis!" I shouted to the top of my lungs.

When he turned around I simply told him what I wanted with a grin.

"Grandpa said hi" and I closed the door.  
I couldn't see it, but I could swear that Lewis chuckled with nostalgia before leaving.

As I closed the door I took a look at the inside of our new home.  
It was just as the outside, a rather simple and new looking place.  
It had a desk and a few chairs on the center of the room, a box like TV against the wall, a small kitchen on a corner, two beds on the side of the room and a door that most probably led to the bathroom.  
Less than five seconds in and it alredy felt a million times more like home than the apartment I used to live in a few days ago.

I moved our belongings to a side of the room and left them there. Not in the mood to unpack yet. After that, I went to the bed and dropped on it face first. Damn, that journey in the crappy bus took a lot outta me.

As I felt Anya touch my arm, I turned around to see her standing in front of me, with a shy look on her face. I know very well that look, she is going to ask me for something.

She pulled from behind her a small black box as she shaked it, the cards inside it making a pretty neat sound.  
Ooooh, so this is where she's going.

"Wanna play?" She said cheerfully.

I grinned, this was going to be fun.

"How can I say no to that face? Get your game on!" I said.

Hopefully this wouldn't turn out to be a curb stomp battle for me, again...

 **Meanwhile...**

 **? POV**

I hazily opened my eyes as the clock alarm pierces my ears with that annoying sound. Ugh, why is it so damn loud!?

Lifting a fist, I slammed it on top of the clock to make it shut up, the fucking sound still echoing inside my head.

Note to self, never let Abigail get her hands on a bottle of wine. On New Year's Eve. Ever again. Ugh, someone kill me for being so dumb... before the headache does, that is.

Thankfully Pierre doesn't open shop on after-party days, I don't want to find out what would happen if I went to work like this.

"Alright, first things first. Shower and then coffee. Hopefully the pain'll go away after that"

I slowly got up, my bare feet touching the Wood floor. I gathered a few of my clothes before calmly making my way to the bathrooom. Then I realiced I forgot to grab a shirt.

Going back to my wardrobe I stopped in front of a wall mirror, staring at my reflection.

Some people,Alex specifically, would say that I'm... hot, I guess? My long black hair was out of it's usual braid like it always is when I go to sleep, my hazel colored eyes holding a hurt and weary look before steeling in the usual cold look that they had around people for the last seven years.

 _"He would say that if my eyes were a few degrees colder he would've sneezed...*sigh*"_ I thought sadly, before shaking my head and going back to the bathroom. This was no time to think of the past.  
The shower was quite refreshing, it helped my spliting headache. After drying up I got changed and went to the kitchen. Not before taking some minutes to braid my hair. I normally tied my hair in a ponytail and then braided it into a loose-ish long braid. It was easier to mantain this way.

As I was turning on the coffee machine I felt as if I was lacking something. Wondering what it was I lifted my hand to touch my necklace, it was an old habit, it helped me think.  
Then it hitted me. I forgot to put on the necklace.

"God, if didn't have my head attached to my body I would forget it too..." I said to myself.  
I hastily went back to my bedroom, I went straight to the wardrobe and got out the small ornamented box inside of it. I opened and gave it a rare relieved smile. My necklace sat there, just where I left it last night. I putted it on, lightly kissed the front part and held it close to my chest.  
When I noticed the dim light in the room, I turned towards the windows and saw that the shutters were half closed. The wind must have closed them. It's best to open them.

As the light hitted me in the face I saw that the necklace was reflecting the sunlight. I looked at the pendant with the Moon design before putting it under my shirt. No one knows about it and I don't intend on letting them know about it anytime soon.

But either way, I better go back to my breakfast. Don't want my coffee to get cold.

 **A few minutes later**  
*RIIIINGGG*  
My phone?  
I looked towards it to see who is interrumpting my breakfast. It was Abigail, this was going to get good.

"Good morning, Helena!" She said cheefully.  
"Oh, fuck you Abigail".

Yep, I'm very nice towards my friends.

"Oh come on! What way is that to treat one of your best friends?" She asked in mock hurt.  
"The way you treat the ones that got you a splitting headache and a hangover". I answered.  
"You were the one with the drink in hand, as far as I remember"  
"You ought to stop drinking that much, then. Because, as far as I remember, you were the one that was bugging me to drink". I said truthfully.  
"Oh... woops? Sorry, alcohol really made a number on me last night"  
"On you and I both. Look, sorry for being so rude. But, you know that having headaches makes me mad". I apologized.  
"And rainy days."  
I blinked before answering that strange response.  
"What?"  
"Rainy days, they _*siip*_ make you mad too, right?" She said.  
"Are you having breakfast while we talk?" I asked her a bit surprised at her lack of manners. Which it shouldn't because it's _Abigail._  
"Not the question Lena." She said before she spoke again. "Oh, and you don't like being called Lena, either."  
"Yeah, I think that I told you to not call me that." I said in an angered tone, I mean, only one person (maybe two) get to call me Lena! That's off limits for everyone else.  
Wait... I think that she's right about me.  
"Theeeere we go. That's the normal, grumpy Helena we all know and love." She said  
"Yes, I get it, I'm mad most of the time. Now, can you lay off me? I have a free day and I'm going to blow some stress later." I said.  
"Oh oh oh! Going to the mines?" She said in that excited tone of hers.  
"No, I'm not taking you there. I don't want an angry Pierre on my case".  
"You didn't let me finish. Don't hang up, and go to your mail bus. Everyone got a letter this morning about the mines" Abigail said.  
"From who?" I asked going for the door.  
"You don't want to know." She said bluntly.

Weird. Anyways, as I opened the door the sunlight reflected in my eyes making me blink a few times before looking over to my mailbus.  
It indeed had a letter.

Opening it I took out the letter. Flipping it over I saw that it had the Joja corp seal.  
Those assholes. What in the hell do they want now?  
Ripping up a side of the envelope I got the letter and started reading.

...

WHAT!?

I heard someone whimper as I finished reading the letter. I looked to my hand and saw that I still had Abigail on the phone. Didn't realized I shouted that outloud.

"A-are you serious? What did those asshats do to the mines?" I swore.  
"Apparently they tried to use some kind of explosive to go faster on the descent towards the last few floors, and the mine isn't a fan of cheaters. I also heard from Lewis that the elevators got disconnected again." She explained.

Oh, I'm going to smash Morris' smug face to bits next time I see the idiot.  
But the elevators... so much time lost getting down to floor 75, only for those idiots to try and hog every last bit of ore for themselves. And ruining everything in the process.

I now needed to blow off some steam more than ever.

"Goddamnit!" I shouted  
"I know, right?" Abigail said simpathetically.  
"And I still need to relax. Okay, I'll use plan B." I said still angered.  
"Plan B? Wait, Helena-" she started before I cutted her off.  
"Later." I said before going back in to get my keys and close the house.

After a few minutes I closed the house and strapped to my back my trusty black steel lance, before slowly made my way towards the central square of the town, and heading towards Marnie's ranch general direction, taking a few seconds to knock on Sam's window to wake the lazy guy up, when I saw that it wasn't enough I opened it and kept knocking on the glass. I was satisfied when I heard him groaning in annoyance. I left after that, but not before hearing him fall off the bed and scrambling to close the open window (it was still cold outside).  
"Good morning to you too Sam" I said indiferently while walking away.  
"Wha..? Oh, *yawn* hey Helena" he yawned.  
I left him trying to wake up completely, no need to stay after all. And yes, it's normal for me to wake people up this rudely.

After some minutes, I got to the path that takes you to the old farm.  
Apparently it used to belong to an elderly man who passed away a few years ago. Never knew him, but my grandmother apparently did. She said something about being old friends with the man.  
Grandma... it's been, what, two years since she died? Feels like a lifetime ago.  
And it also feels like a lifetime ago since I last saw him.

 _"There I go again."_ I thought. Shaking my head to rid myself of those thoughts I went into the overgrown farm.  
This place was a secret hang out place we had going on with Abigail, Sam, Sebastian, and me. Eventually the boys got bored of it and Abigail found other places to hide her swords from her father. After that, I decided to come here by myself whenever the day was too good to be on the mines.  
No one would come here, so I was able to stay alone for whatever time I wanted. It wasn't like a new owner would show up today, so I was in no rush.

Except... that I didn't know that things were going to get even crazier than before. And everything thanks to him. He always knew how to make a mess out of the simplest of situations.

 **Aisen's POV**

No, no, no!  
This bad, very very bad!  
She's gonna off me if I don't do something!

"Big brother?" I heard Anya say.

Looking up from my handful of cards I saw Anya with a questioning look on he face.  
"Are you going to active something on that?" She asked  
That was what I was thinking about for the last minute.  
I shaked my head

"I don't have anything, your go." I said.

She shrugged before continuing to massacrate me.

"Alright. Since I activated Performapal Recasting, I can reveal and shuffle back any number of Performapal monsters back into my deck and draw the same amount of cards plus an extra one". She said while showing 4 cards: Performapal Odd-Eyes Synchron, King Bear, Drumerilla, and Handsome Liger, and shuffling them back into her deck.

If it wasn't clear, Anya and I are playing Duel Monsters. And she was winning.

 **Turn:?**  
 **Anya:5500 LP**  
 **Aisen:1700 LP**

This little girl might not look like much, but don't let her cute look and her silly looking deck fool you. She can be merciless when she wants to.

She drew a complete hand and smiled.  
"Then, I pendulum summon: Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, Performapal U-Go Golem, and Performapal Friendonkey!" She said as she slapped three cards on the playmat.  
"When Friendonkey is summoned, I can special summon a level 4 or lower performapal monster from my hand or graveyard. I choose, Performapal Salutiger from the grave!" She slapped another card.  
"And a quickplay spell, Star Changer! Friendonkey is now a level 4! With this, I XYZ summon Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon! And by using up his 2 overlay units, I halve Flame Wingman's attack and have Dark Rebellion win that ammount" Another card.  
 **Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon: 2500-3050**  
"And since I pendulum summoned U-Go Golem, I can perform a Fusion Summon using monsters on my field as materials. I'll fuse Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon with U-Go Golem to Fusion summon Performapal Gatling Ghoul!" And yet another card.

See? She's a tactical genius. And I am in real trouble.

"Since Gatling Ghoul was fusion summoned, I can inflict you 200 damage for each card on the field!"  
I looked at the cards. Her two pendulums(Odd Eyes Arc pendulum dragon and Performapal Dag Daggerman), her two monsters, my three monsters and a face- down... which means.

"Yep! 1600 LP less for you, Big bro!" She said cheerfully, while I groaned and noted down my current state.

 **Aisen: 100 LP**

Yep, I'm screwed... I think. There's a card I can still use

"And here goes Gatling Ghoul's second effect! Since I used a pendulum Monster for the Fusion summon, I can destroy a monster on the field and inflict you damage equal to his attack! I choose Flame Wingman So Bye-nee!" She said while winking.  
Not happening!  
"I activate Rainbow Life, I discard one card and instead of taking damage I regain LP, sorry sis, but this ain't over yet" I said confidently while sending Sparkman and Flame Wingman to the graveyard.

Anya pouted, not this time lil' sis. I won't fall for your cute tricks.

 **Aisen: 2200 LP**

But, seriously, where's my miracle fusion when I need it?  
"Fine then. I'll still attack Clayman and Shadow Mist. And I just wiped out your field."  
"Shadow Mist's effect. I add Blazeman to my hand, and I didn't take damage since everyone was on defense mode." I said.  
"Okay. I end my turn". She smiled. "Still think you can win big brother?" She asked kinda smugly.  
"A duel isn't over until the last card is played, so I draw" I said drawing my card.  
I grinned.

"I summon Elemental HERO Solidman! When he is normal summoned I can Special summon a level 4 or lower HERO monster. I choose Blazeman! And he lets me get a polymerization when summoned." I said adding the card.  
"I'll play it right away and summon elemental HERO Gaia! He was fusion summoned so I'll cut Gatling Ghoul attack in two! And have Gaia gain the same amount!-Anya groaned, while I grinned even wider at this **Gaia:2200-3650** \- **Gatling Ghoul: 2900-1450-** and since solidman left the field by a spell I can special summon a HERO monster in defense mode... but I won't". I said.  
"What? Why?" Anya asked.  
"You'll see soon enough. Upstart Gobling, I draw one, you win a 1000 LP". Anya nodded at this.

 **Anya:6500 LP.**

I can't believe my luck.  
"I activate Miracle Fusion! I'll fuse Flame Wingman and Sparkman, to get Shining Flare Wingman!" I slapped my ace card on the mat, all while Anya was trying to pick her jaw from the floor.  
"He gains 300 Attack points for each HERO on the graveyard!" I shouted.

 **Shining Flare Wingman: 2500-4600.**  
"But why stay with only that? Let's up things a bit, Burial from a different Dimension! I send 2 monsters from the banished pile to the graveyard!" I showed her the card.  
 **Shining Flare Wingman: 4600-5200**

"And now, battle! I attack Gatling Ghoul with Gaia!" I sent her monster to the graveyard for her.

 **Anya:4300 LP**

 **"** And then I attack Dark Rebellion with Shining Flare Wingman! Which means, that your dragon is out! And so are your LP!" I grinned, man I never got so lucky before!

 **Anya:2150 LP.**

 **"** But I still have Life points!" Anya said  
"Nope, Shining Flare Wingman's effect, when he destroys a monster you take all of it's attack points as damage!" I said while childishly sticking out my tongue to her.

 **Anya:0 LP**  
 **Aisen wins!**

Oh boy, I love winning!  
I looked at Anya with a smug smile while taking my cards from the play mat. She looked kinda sad at loosing, but quickly perked up.

"Rematch, I want a rematch!" She shouted. "Nope, we alredy had five matches. Aren't you tired of winning?" I asked her.  
She wiped the floor with me 4 times before I even won! Thanks but no thanks, I choose to live. Anya shrugged before turning to the clock on the wall, seeing the hour, she hopped off her chair and went to the fridge pulling one of the sandwiches that I made for the journey on the bus. I decided to do the same as her, pulling a sandwich of my own before sitting in the bed and looking at the clock. It read 18:30. Man, did we really stayed that much time playing duel monsters?

After a few minutes chatting, I finished my food and went outside to sort out my tools to start working tomorrow. I went to the side of the house and saw two boxes, a chest and a crate to be specific. Looking towards the latter I saw a note sticked to it, the neat handwriting being easy enough to recognice, it was from Lewis.

I grabbed the crate's handle and pulled it open, seeing 5 tools inside: a hoe, a pickaxe, an axe proper, a sickle and a watering can. They looked old, like very well conservated pieces of a museum. I attached them to some straps of my bag and read the note in the crate.  
It read:

' _Aisen, these tools you found here in this crate were from your grandfather. They've been restored to the best Clint(the local blacksmith) could, so take good care of them. The crate you found them in is the sell box, as many call it. Put any produce inside of it, and I'll leave the proper amount of money when I come to pick it up._  
 _That should be everything I had to tell you. Take good care of yourself._  
 _Mayor Lewis._  
 _Ps: Your Grandpa left me something else for you to use in the chest next to the box you found this note in. It should be useful if you ever venture into the mines'_

Another gift from Grandpa? Man, he really had a lot of things saved for me. Let's see what it is.  
I opened the chest to find something wrapped in a blanket. I moved the blanket a little bit on a side to see... wait, is that a sword's handle? I grabbed the blanket and gave it a yank.  
It fell to the side to reveal a cool pirate sword! **(3).** It was rather simple. A wooden handle, a guard on the side and a curved blade. I lifted it to get a better look at it, it was in good shape. Finding a sheat in the chest I strapped it to my hips and sheated the sword.  
I looked towards the darkening sky. I still had a few hours left of light, hope that they are enough for me to get there.  
I looked to the deep forest that was once the farmland before unhooking the axe from my bag.  
"Let's see how sharp is this thing" I said with a smirk.

 **Same hour.**  
 **Helena's PoV.**

It's been quite a few hours since I got to the farm. And I actually got to calm down quite a bit. After all, slashing at trees with my lance is a good way to blow some steam. At least until I began to have thoughts about certain _people_.  
I've been at this for a while, letting my mind wander and think about thing while my body just entered in a trance. It wasn't a very good  
Those idiots of Joja... they never give up in trying to make everyone that isn't giving them money miserable. I gave the tree a nice stab mark at that.  
They were very much like someone I knew once, who thankfully was out of my life for good.  
This time I gave my stoic victim a nice slash mark, imagining my stupid excuse of a mother in the place of the plant.

Mother... even after years the simple mention of her makes my blood boil with hate and rage. I stopped the onslaught for a second in exhaustion, only for my mind to imagine my mother standing in front of me, smirking coldly as she used to do.  
I screamed with a wild fury as I jumped and spinned in midair, hitting the side of her head with the butt of my lance.  
Then I remembered I was in front of a tree and not in front of her.  
Half of my lance shattered in a million of pieces that went flying everywhere, some scratching my face.

I braced myself before I hitted the floor, my clothes getting completely covered in dirt.  
I stayed a few seconds in the hard soil, my fist clenching so hard that it started shaking. I got up and slapped my clothes a bit to get the dirt out of them, even as my eyesight was blurry from the impact.  
I lifted my hand to rub my eyes when I felt something humid touch my fingers.  
It took me a few seconds to realice I was crying. I quickly got them out of my face with my sleeve, even if no one else was here to see me, I still hardened myself to stop the tears.

No one besides him and my grandma ever saw me cry. I wasn't going to let that number go up by another person.

Looking around I saw what remained of my lance. Grabbing it with my right hand, I examined the damage and I couldn't help but sigh after finishing.  
The sharp black tip was mostly intact, but the dark wooden shaft was battered and the lower half that received the hit completely missing.  
I took the tip out and pocketed it after throwing away the ruined wood. Robin still owed me one for finding her axe, I think that she could make me a new shaft if I asked nicely enough.

I started to walk away when I heard something. Turning to see what it was I saw a tree crashing down in the distance.

"Damnit, don't tell me that there's someone else here." I said in disbelief.  
Talk about bad luck.

Not wanting to be discovered here I ran on the opposite direction not caring where I was going. I just thought of getting out of there.  
I ran throught the dense vegetation for what felt hours on an end, until I got to a wall, which was part of the big cliff that blocked my way.  
The sounds of trees falling boomed behind of me. Looking for a way out I saw something that looked like marble out of the corner of my eye.  
Oh for fuck's sake. A tombstone. Most likely of the previous owner, and the objective of misterious new owner.

Another tree fell down, hearing how it shattered upon impact I looked back, then I saw a silhouette and the metallic flash of an axe starting to chop down the last tree between me and them. I ran throught the trees just as it fell down, completely shattering when it hit the floor. Then I halted in my tracks, with my curiosity going wild.

Who was this person? A new owner? I certainly never heard of someone from town coming to take care of the farm, so they must be from the city or some other town. And I was curious to see who they were. I hid behind a pine tree, poking out my head to see. At that time I didn't even understood how important he would be to me or, to my absolute shame, who he exactly was.

From the forest came out a boy who looked like he was my age, maybe a little older. He had his ashy blonde hair shaped like that video game elf dressed in green that I saw once in a poster that Abigail had(two strands raised in an arc) but messier. His face was heart shaped, and he had this weird but mesmerizing and oddly familiar purple colored eyes(are they even natural?) that I had a hard time to stop looking at. His clothes were rather simple, a white with black lining hoodie, a red shirt, blue faded jeans and black sneakers, his clothes looked like they saw a lot of use.

" _He looks... familiar. Very familiar, as if he's- no. That can't be him, I would recognice him if I saw him again'._ I thought. ' _He just looks similar to him"._

The boy had a look of childlike amecement as he looked back and forth between the shattered tree and his axe.

" _Way too similar."_

"Well, it works. The axe definetely works" he chuckled.

" _He... he is too similar to him to be just a coincidence. Damn it what do I do now?"_

My mind was racing at half a million miles per hour, it showed, since I tried to deny what I alredy knew. I had my best friend in front of me.

He strapped his tool to his backpack before looking towards the tomb.

The sad and bittersweet look that he gave it made me feel like my heart was shattered in a million pieces. From where I was I could see him clenching his fist and letting a lonely tear fall down his face as he knelt down while placing a hand on the marble surface of the grave.

It's been years. Yet it still hurts, I'm very familiar with that.

That's the reason why I was halfway through the process of getting up to go and comfort him when I remembered why I was even hiding.

 _"He doesn't even know I live here in Pelican Town."_ I should leave him in peace for now, there's plenty of time to catch up later. Plus, I can't just get out of the bushes like nothing changed. I need a plan, planning is good, it keeps you out of situations like these.

And the moment I heard his voice again since 7 years ago, was the moment I froze completely and any possible plan went to hell.

"Hey grandpa..."

 **Aisen's PoV**

"...It's been a while, hasn't it?" I said sadly as I ran my hand throught the smooth marble.  
"Sorry I took so much time to visit. Life was hectic in the last few years. Being a responsible big brother/legal guardian for Anya and bringing food to the table don't mix well with vacations. Much less if you are working at Joja."

I lowered my head thinking what to say next. I never was any good at this kinda thing. Even though I should have practice doing this alredy.

"But, what really matters is that I'm here to get your farm on the works again. It doesn't matter if this takes me years or even decades, I'm bringing this place back to it's former glory. That's a promise" I said with determination flowing freely throught me.

Then it was when I felt it.

A warm feeling filled me up, then I felt like someone wrapped a very comfy and warm blanket around me. The feeling came with strong, yet calming presence... it felt just like...

 _"Aisen, my dear grandson..."_

A seemingly disembodied deep voice filled my head. I quickly got up and started looking for the source before it started talking again.

 _"Aisen... wait for my return at the dawn of your third year here..."_

Then as quickly as it came, it left.  
But you've got to be kidding me. That voice was a lot like...

"Grandpa?"

What the frick was that? Return? What does that mean? Grandpa was long dead since almost 10 years ago, so what does that mean? A ghost?

"What a mess..." I sighed while scratching the back of my head.

Then I heard something.

From my left I felt something moving. Looking to the dense forest I saw the grass moving.

"Who's there?" I called out.

The grass stopped moving. From where I was, I could see what looked like the tip of a black tail. An animal? I wasn't in the mood to deal with a stray cat or to deal with Anya begging to keep it so I better scared it off.

I crouched and grabbed a small stone from the floor. I tested the weight and then threw it in the general direction of the animal.

Big mistake. A very, very BIG mistake.

"Augh!" A shout of a female, and very human, voice got to my ears.

"Oh, crap!" Way to go Aisen, barely a few hours in here and I alredy hitted someone from town with a stone. Very smooth.

I ran towards the place where I heard the shout. Slashing the grass out of the way with my sickle, I got to a small clearing.

There,lying on her back, was her.

A girl who looked my age was lying on her back. Seemingly unconscious. She had a long jet black hair in a single braid that started on the low part of her neck, complementing quite nicely her pale white skin, which was only tainted by a red spot on her forehead, where the stone hitted her.  
Her clothes where what you would expect from a girl like her. Dark blue jeans, a light blue shirt covering a white tank top, along with a red open button up light sweater and a pair of deep blue sneakers was everything she wore.

"Woah..." I said astounded.

She was familiar, but like really. It was like I had her name in the tip of my tongue, but I couldn't really say it.  
Wait a sec, isn' t she...!?

"Uuuugh..." she moaned, obviously in pain.

That snaped me back to my senses. I rushed to her side and crouched next to her as I started shaking her a little.

"H-hey, are you okay? Sorry 'bout the stone, I didn't kn-ACK!"

Yeah, she punched me. Hard.

The punch knocked me out of my feet as I ended up being the one that was sprawled on the floor.  
I rubbed my sore jaw as she got up and started talking with a lot of anger, and she wasn't wrong for feeling like that.

"Can you explain me..." she said as she opened her eyes.

I held back a gasp.

No way... it's her.

"...what was the damn purpose of your, oh, so brillant idea..." she continued as her hazel eyes I was so familiar with shined with anger and sarcasm.

Memories came rushing to my mind as I she rose to full height.

 _"Do you really have to go?"_  
 _"You know this isn't my choice, so please stop it"_  
 _"I can't take it! It was from your mother!'_  
 _"You are family. You were since we first met, so ya kinda are stuck with it"_

My trip throught memory lane was cut short as she stood in front of me, her hand strongly gripping the stone I threw at her.

"...of throwing a fucking stone at me!?" She finished shattering the stone with her bare hand. Then she looked like she suddendly realiced something. "Oh, crap"  
"

L-Lena!?" I asked in shock.

She chuckled nervously. "It's... been a while hasn't it?"

I blinked. "Did you just seriously punched me after seven years?" I half teased.  
Her annoyed expression confirmed it for me. "Oh, get over it you damned nerd".

I laughed. Tipical Helena.

But if I knew something, is that things were going to get a lot more complicated.

 **AN: Aaaand that's a wrap! Man it took long to finish this! I have to say, 10k words? That's a new record for me.**  
 **And in case ya all are wondering, Helena remembers Aisen but doesn't recognice him. This will make up the first arc of this story which won't go beyond the first year in-game. There's so much I can write with this, lol. Oh and those numbers you saw? References at the author's note!**  
 **(1): background of the game's main menu.**  
 **(2): picture them with same art style of the Sun and Moon medals of Sonic Unleashed.**  
 **(3): Grandpa had a mounted pirate sword in the prologue. So, why not?**  
 **By the way, tell me if any sentence is gramatically wrong. English isn't my mother languaje.**

 **Update: I decided to go over this chapter again and replace a few things in here, since the whole "Lena not recognicing Aisen" plot didn't work. Five scrapped chapters can confirm it. I'm reworking a few things but expect a new chapter soon!**


End file.
